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With Chrome OS, Google Intends to Destroy the Desktop and Microsoft

Google stole the tech and media spotlight today as it revealed a mountain of new details about Chrome OS, the company's new operating system due in late 2010. It is a completely different type of OS (we provide a summary of how) that eliminates the desktop and focuses on getting you on the web quickly and efficiently.

Now that we've had some time to digest Chrome OS and get information on all some of the details, it's time to ask the big questions in order to understand if or how Chrome OS could change the world. What is Google's eventual goal with Chrome OS? How will it affect Microsoft? And finally, what impact will Chrome OS have?

To explore those questions, it's time to revisit the Google Revenue Equation.

The Google Revenue Equation Revisited

Several months ago, I revealed what I believed to be the Google Revenue Equation. My argument at the time was that Google Chrome OS should not be viewed as a direct competitor to Microsoft Windows, but as Google's biggest attempt yet to push the world onto the web more and for longer.

The reason Google is pushing for society to use the desktop less and utilize the web more, I argued, was because of the Google Revenue Equation: Revenue = Amount of Time on the Web. After today's announcements, I still believe that my equation is correct and that I hit the nail on the head with Google's motivations.

As Google's Matt Cutts tweeted to me in a reply today, Google wants the web to succeed and will do what it takes to make even more functional, useful, valuable, and enticing to everyone (consider this the Cutts Corollary to the Google Revenue Equation). Chrome OS is the company's biggest step yet towards fulfilling those goals.

Google's Key Goals with Chrome OS

With the Google Revenue Equation in mind, it's easier to understand Google's primary motivations for creating an OS based entirely off the browser. The more time we spend browsing the web, the more money Google makes. It's that simple. Thus, Google's primary goal is to get us on the web more.

That's exactly what Chrome OS does: its interface is 100% web, thus you are always browsing if you're using Chrome OS. Every app is a web app. Plus, Chrome OS loads in seconds, getting you on the web faster.

In order for Google to accomplish its goal of getting us on the web more, it has to eliminate time sinks and anything that distracts someone from surfing the web on the computer. Thus, one of Google's goals is to destroy the desktop.

There is no desktop on Google's new operating system, but that's only the beginning. Google may only be looking to launch on netbooks next year, but make no mistake: it hopes to have a strong presence laptops and desktops everywhere within the next five to seven years. Not only that, but it hopes that the influence of Chrome OS is powerful enough to push all future operating systems to be more web-centric.

Microsoft Stands in the Way

The biggest obstacle standing in its way towards a web-centric computing experience is none other than Microsoft. The two have been locked in battle for years, but Google is now stepping onto turf that the technology behemoth has dominated for decades.

Here's the thing: Microsoft is well aware of the Google Revenue Equation. It also knows that Chrome OS and its price point (free) aren't in its best interests. Thus, Microsoft won't play to Google's game, leaving Google with only option: to destroy or fundamentally alter Windows. This is equivalent to gutting Microsoft and leaving it to wither away into oblivion.

Google is setting the stage for its biggest battle with Microsoft yet. The result of its Chrome OS bet will directly affect the fate of computing, the operating system, and the web.

What Impact Will Chrome Have?

Google's intent is nothing short of a paradigm shift, one where the web is synonymous with the computer. It's a process that will take years — decades in fact — but Google is patient and will wait for the Internet to become more accessible (and for Wi-Fi to be accessible in almost any location). The Chrome browser was a big push for a web-centric world, but Chrome OS is far more ambitious.

Google cares more about the browser becoming the OS than it cares about Chrome OS being the OS of choice on the computers of the world. When companies and people adopt its standards, Google wins. It's the same philosophy behind Google Wave: provide a free, open-source software and focus on changing how we think of communication. In the case of Chrome OS, the focus is on changing what we expect when we turn on a computer.

It's tough to tell if Google will succeed in its ambitious plan. However, it has a track record that cannot be ignored and, in our estimation, Google has already been instrumental towards society's embrace of the web. Prepare yourself for the next era of the web, sparked by the fundamental philsophies behind Google Chrome OS.

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